New Mexico had its fair share of chances at Nevada.
However, the Lobos weren’t able to take advantage of those opportunities in a 35-17 loss to the Wolf Pack in Reno, Nevada on Saturday.
The missed opportunity that ended any chance of a Lobo comeback came when wide receiver Dameon Gamblin fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line as he was fighting for a touchdown. Nevada recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback, making the score 28-17 going into the fourth quarter.
UNM’s defense also blew several chances to stop Nevada’s offense that might have given them another shot at a comeback. The Lobos hurt themselves with penalties and missed tackles.
“They made some plays. I know that sounds over simplistic, but that’s exactly what I talked with my team about,” head coach Bob Davie said. “We did some good things, and they did some good things. They did more good things.”
A major problem for UNM’s defense was Nevada’s running back combination of Don Jackson and James Butler. As a team Nevada had 351 rushing yards, and almost 300 of those yards came from Jackson (152 yards) and Butler (145 yards and a touchdown).
The Lobos (3-3, 1-1 Mountain West) missed numerous tackles against the Wolf Pack that led to big gains or touchdowns.
“In the end, we couldn’t consistently tackle the backs enough. We couldn’t even tackle the receivers enough,” Davie said. “... I thought we got exposed tonight with some physical backs and some physical players on both sides of the ball.”
UNM’s offense wasn’t able to find a rhythm, either. The Lobos finished with just 273 yards of total offense, with 135 of those yards coming on the ground. The running attack produced just 3.6 yards per carry for UNM, compared to a 6.5 yards-per-carry average for Nevada.
The issue for the Lobos was the inability to run the ball between the tackles. Nevada (3-3, 1-1 MW) took away the pitch, forcing UNM to run up the middle, where the team wasn’t able to produce.
“We never really had much going on offense at all,” Davie said. “We’re not quite physical enough inside yet to do it. Against the good teams, we’re not good enough to run the ball up in there.”
In the fourth quarter, Davie inserted Austin Apodaca at quarterback. Apodaca looked the best he had all season, completing a series of bubble screens to Gamblin that set up the fumble in the red zone.
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Overall, Apodaca finished 10 of 12 for 82 yards and an interception.
“You can see, if we can spread it out a little bit, what that does for us,” Davie said. “(Apodaca) came in and did some good things for us.”
Nevada quarterback Tyler Stewart didn’t have much trouble with UNM’s defense. He finished 16 of 19 for 166 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 57 yards and two scores.
“They came out and adjusted to the defense. They knew where the blitz was coming from, where the linebackers were coming from,” cornerback Cranston Jones said. “They were doing a lot of talking and communicating well. We just didn’t make as many plays as we needed to.”
Tailback Teriyon Gipson led UNM with 68 yards on 11 attempts and a score. Cornerback Nias Martin scored on a 77-yard fumble return in the third quarter.
Thomas Romero-Salas is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
